Ongoing war on Syria requires fresh media discourse

The national media discourse during the ongoing war on the country has been debated transparently in a three-day workshop that mainly aimed at laying bare the weak points and developing the strong to face challenges.

As Syria is at a state of war, media must be an active partner with the Syrian Arab army to achieve victory at all levels. But this requires turning media strategy upside down and qualifying reporters.

The new strategy is to be drawn up under recommendations issued today in the final session of the workshop held in Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus with participation of reporters, analysts and intellectuals from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Iran.

MP Khalid al-Abboud

The Member of Parliament Khalid al-Abboud described the holding of the workshop at this time as a great achievement, saying to the Syria Times’ reporter : “It is a great achievement to criticize yourself while you are still in the midst of the battle. I think that the media is cleaning its weapon,” in a reference to the fact that media is a war tool.

He sees that all state establishments are now doing self-criticism because they have realized that they are moving towards victory.  

The MP, on the other hand, stressed that the national media has been honest and based on national standard in dealing with some topics. “But its performance did not live up to the level of the army institution.”

He criticized the national media for not creating a common space between Syrians.

MP Maria Saadeh

For her part, the MP Maria Saadeh saw eye-to-eye with al-Abboud on this viewpoint, saying: “the national media has ignored the divide in society. It must work for building trusts with society through presenting all components in media.”

“Verily, there is a space of freedom in media but it is not used yet due to the old mentality in working,” Saadeh said to the ST, adding that there should be several media scenarios to all ideas in order to help society to build its ideology and culture.

She noted that the national media has developed itself well in the past months, citing that the big challenge for national media is to help society to move from a stage which it doesn’t want to be in to another one that it finds itself in.

“Media must present all ideas to be criticized and argued in the presence of specialists and analysts to explain the idea in different manners. We lacks a comprehensive vision .. we just see details, the MP Saadeh said.

Writer Hasan. M. Yousef

However, the writer and reporter Hasan.M.Yousef labeled the national media as ‘aggrieved’ because what is being given to it is not sufficient, noting that the salary of a reporter in Syria is very low in comparison with that of their colleagues in other countries.

Not only income but also mentality of Syrian reporter must be firstly reconsidered to develop media, according to Yousef.

“We are still talking about traditional media and ignoring digital one. In brief, we are fighting yesterday-battle,” he said.

Writer Nadia Khost

 For her part, the writer Nadia Khost praised the national media which faced the hostile media, noting that the national media was not qualified then. She also referred to fruitful cooperation with personalities in foreign media in unveiling western media’s fabrications and lies.

It is noteworthy that there is only one official e-newspaper in English in Syria, called the Syria Times, which was re-launched on October 6, 2012.

It addresses western mentality and explains what is going on in an honest way and works within a national framework to defend the country and to put a gloss on fabricated world news.

Dr. M.A.al-Ibrahim

Dr. Mohammad Abdo al-Ibrahim, the ST Editor-in-Chief,  has underscored in a presentation he gave in the workshop that the e-newspaper is a reliable source and  reference to all events in the country in all fields plus to all interviews and speeches of President Bashar al-Assad and the late President Hafez al-Assad.

He echoed what President Bashar al-Assad said on November,10th, 2005: ” When we know the truth we avoid lying. Those who know the truth do not care for lies. That is why we have to be more transparent in passing information to Syrian citizens. Then we will not be worried about the confusion our citizens are subjected to…and we started some modest mechanisms for passing information, not necessarily through the media. But these mechanisms are still not sufficient to face this huge media campaign. The more we move ahead in terms of transparency and pass correct information quickly to our citizens the more they will be immune. Then, these media campaigns will not be of any use. The ultimate purpose of this media attack is to cause panic and fear, or to inflict defeat without a battle. We know that moral defeat is half, if not three quarters, of the real defeat in any battle, whether it is military, cultural or otherwise….As to the media attack, with all its capabilities, instruments and men, it might succeed only through our reactions. It fails too through our reactions. Consequently, we decide its success or failure, by our awareness, holding to our principles, and arming ourselves with science and knowledge. “

Reported by : Basma Qaddour